Ensure equitable credit to minorities in 121 districts: RBI to banks

The Reserve Bank (RBI) today directed banks to ensure that minorities in 121 identified districts receive a fair and equitable portion of credit within the overall target of the priority sector lending.

The RBI said the government has forwarded a list of 121 minority concentration districts having at least 25 per cent minority population, excluding those States/UTs where minorities are in majority (Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Lakshadweep).

Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, Buddhists and Jains have been notified as minority communities by the Union government.

All commercial banks are required to ensure that within the overall target for priority sector lending and the sub-target of 10 per cent for the weaker sections, sufficient care is taken to ensure that minority communities also receive an equitable portion of the credit.

"... all scheduled commercial banks are requested to specially monitor the credit flow to minorities in these 121 districts, thereby, ensuring that the minority communities receive a fair and equitable portion of the credit within the overall target of the priority sector," the RBI said in updated Master Circular- Credit Facilities to Minority Communities.

It further said the Lead Bank in each of the minority concentration districts should have an officer who shall exclusively look after the problems regarding the credit flow to minority communities.

One of the major aims of the Prime Minister's 15-Point Programme for the welfare of minorities is to ensure that an appropriate percentage of the priority sector lending is targeted for minority communities.

In all there are 716 districts in India.